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THE   LAST    SERMON 

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PREACHED   IN     . 

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FIRST    CHURCH,    CHAUNCY    STREET. 

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May  10,  1868  ; 

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BEING   THE  LOjRD'S    DAY    PREVIOUvS    TO    THE    REMOVAL    OF    THE 

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CONGREGATION  TO  THE  CHAPEL  OF  THEIR  FIFTH  HOUSE 

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OF  WORSHIP,  ON  THE   CORNER   OF   BERKELEY 

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AND    MARLBOROUGH    STREETS. 

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By     RUFUS     ELLIS, 

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PASTOR   OF  THE   CHURCH. 

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Wiitl)  an  mpprnUtx. 

PUBLISHED      BY      REQUEST      OF      THE      SOCIETY. 

•  ■ 

BOSTON: 
PRESS   OF  JOHN  WILSON  AND    SON. 

F  ^^ 

1868. 

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FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED    BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


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CHAUXCY-PLACE    CHUECH.      1808-1868. 


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JAN  20  1932 


THE    LAST    SERMON 


PREACHED  m 


FIRST    CHURCH,    CHAUNCY    STREET, 


May  10,  1868 


BEING  THE  LORDS  DAY  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  REMOVAL  OF  THE 

CONGREGATIOX  TO  THE  CHAPEL  OF  THEIK  FIFTH  HOUSE 

OF  WORSHIP,  ON  THE  CORNER  OF  BERKELEY 

AND  MARLBOROUGH  STREETS. 

Bt    EUFUS     ELLIS, 

PASTOR  OF  THE   CHURCH. 


SHitfj  an  ^ppenUti. 


PUBLISHED      BT      REQUEST      OF      THE      SOCIETY. 


BOSTON: 

PRESS  or  JOHN  WILSON  AND   SON. 
1868. 


S  E  E  M  O  N. 


"  Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  thy  house,  and  the  place  where 
thine  honor  dwelleth."  —  Ps.  xxvi.  8. 

AT  the  annual  meeting  of  the  First  Church  and 
Congregation,  in  what  was  then  known  as  the 
Old  Brick  Meeting-House,  on  the  14th  of  July,  1807, 
votes  were  passed  and  a  committee  appointed  with 
a  view  to  the  building  of  the  house  of  worship 
where  we  are  gathered  to-day  for  the  lasf  time.  The 
committee  consisted  of  David  Tilden,  James  Morrill, 
Peter  C.  Brooks,  John  Joy,  Charles  Paine,  George 
Blanchard,  and  Samuel  Torrey.  Mr.  Ashur  Ben- 
jamin was  selected  to  be  the  architect.  In  those  days 
it  was  still  customary  for  the  body  of  communicants 
to  act  independently  of  the  congregation  at  large,  and 
the  property  of  the  society  must  be  conveyed  by  the 
deacons :  accordingly,  at  a  church  meeting  held  on 
the  7th  of  September,  1807,  the  deacons  were  au- 
thorized to  alienate  and  dispose  of  the  Old  Brick 
Meeting-House,  as  might  seem  just  and  expedient ; 
and  it  was  further  Voted,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Church,    four  pews   in   the    new    house    should    be 


retained,  to  be  let  to  persons,  who  might  not  be 
able  to  buy,  and  occupied  under  the  direction  of 
the  deacons. 

By  the  21st  of  July,  1808,  this  place  of  worship 
was  completed  ;  and  on  that  day,  Rev.  WiUiam  Emer- 
son, the  pastor,  preached  the  sermon  of  dedication. 
It  was  not  the  will  of  God  that  he  should  long  oc- 
cupy the  new  pulpit.  His  earthly  ministry  and  his 
earthly  life  came  to  an  end  on  the  evening  of  Sunday, 
the  r2th  of  May,  1811.  Until  the  Uth  of  July, 
1813,  the  day  of  the  ordination  of  !Mr.  John  L. 
Abbot,  the  church  was  without  a  pastor ;  and  INIr. 
Abbot  had  scarcely  entered  upon  his  work  when  he 
was  brought  down  by  a  sickness,  which  ended  in 
his  death,  Oct.  17,  1814.  Mr.  N.  L.  Frothmgham 
was  installed  as  his  successor,  March  15,  1815;  and 
continued,  as  you  know,  to  pei*form  the  duties  of 
pastor  until  March  10,  1850.  On  the  fourth  of  May 
of  1853,  the  charge  was  committed  to  the  present 
minister. 

During  the  year  1843,  the  house  of  worship  was 
completely  remodelled,  the  congregation  being  hospit- 
ably received,  from  the  11th  of  June  to  the  26th  of 
November,  in  King's  Chapel ;  whilst  the  pulpit  of  the 
Chapel,  vacant  then  on  account  of  the  illness  and 
subsequent  death  of  Dr.  Greenwood,  was  occupied  by 
your  own  pastor. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  male  communicants 
of  the  church,  held  at  the  house  of  the  pastor.  May 


28,  1865,  one  of  the  members  urged,  in  a  very  earn- 
est way,  a  removal  from  what  had  become  a  business 
locality,  and  the  erection  of  a  new  house  of  worship 
in  a  place  of  habitations.  His  views  were  warmly 
seconded;  and  step  by  step,  almost  without  a  dissent- 
ing voice,  delayed  only  by  the  hope  of  a  change  in 
the  financial  condition  of  the  country,  we  have  been 
brought  to  these  last  Sunday  services.  The  beautiful 
chapel  of  our  new  house  of  prayer  awaits  our  coming, 
and  will  suffice,  we  trust,  during  the  summer  disper- 
sion ;  and  we  must  take  leave  of  the  old,  which  yet  is 
scarcely  old,  — which  indeed,  even  for  our  country  and 
times,  is  only  of  yesterday. 

Threescore  years  make  up  the  short  continuance 
of  this  house  of  worship,  whilst  even  in  this  brief 
period  the  building  has  been  thoroughly  refashioned, 
and  soon  not  a  vestige  of  it  will  remain.  The  tide  of 
traffic,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  wears  away  the  stones 
and  strong  walls  of  our  dwellings  and  of  our  sanctu- 
aries. Born  and  schooled  almost  within  the  shadow 
of  these  walls,  I  have  seen  a  considerable  part  of  the 
neighborhood  rebuilded  more  than  once.  One  of  the 
first  to  enter  the  adjoining  school-house,  I  have  ob- 
served with  many  schoolmates  its  last  day.  Short  as 
its  time  has  been,  our  church  has  already  outlasted 
three  houses  of  worship  in  our  immediate  vicinity ; 
and  though  these  walls  sprung  up  from  a  pasture,  and 
by  the  side  of  an  almost  rural  street  of  gardens 
and  trees,  we  find  ourselves  already  in  the  midst  of 


great  warehouses  and  noisy  thoroughfares.  I  sin- 
cerely wish  that  it  might  have  been  otherwise;  I 
sincerely  hope  that  more  abiding  things  are  in  store 
for  the  congregation :  such  changes  are  not  good  for 
us.  They  increase  a  restlessness  which  would  be  ex- 
cessive in  any  circumstances,  and  break  up  pleasant 
and  helpful  associations ;  nevertheless,  we  must  ac- 
cept the  situation,  and  amidst  so  much  change  use  all 
the  more  diligence  to  strengthen  what  remains.  I 
need  not  ask  you,  before  we  take  up  the  ark  of  our 
better  covenant,  and  bear  it  on  to  our  new  tabernacle, 
to  give  a  few  moments  to  the  past,  to  so  much  of  it  at 
least  as  is  not  altogether  dead,  —  the  deeply  planted 
roots  which  bear  up  the  fresh  branches  of  what  we 
would  fain  regard  as  a  tree  of  life  ;  the  faces  and  forms 
that  have  not  yet  faded ;  the  voices  with  which  the 
air  still  vibrates ;  the  memories  that  have  not  lost 
their  fragrance  in  all  these  years.  Let  us  claim  our 
hour  of  quietness  and  thoughtfulness  before  the  keys 
shall  be  put  into  the  hands  that  wait  to  work  the  easy 
work  of  destruction. 

This  church  was  consecrated  in  the  days  of  Kirk- 
land,  Buckminster,  and  Channing.  Of  Kirkland  it 
may  perhaps  be  truly  said,  that  the  charm  of  the  man 
has  survived  any  fame  which  the  preacher  may  have 
enjoyed  in  his  day ;  and  that  at  the  best  he  was  only 
the  earnest  of  the  good  things  in  store  for  those  who 
should  gather  in  the  churches  on  Brattle  Square  and 
Federal  Street,  to  listen  to  the  words  of  men  who 


seemed  to  have  been  taught  anew  by  the  ever-pro- 
ceeding Spirit.  The  rehgious  sentiment  of  Boston 
had  for  many  years  been  prevaihngly  Hberal,  —  what 
would  be  characterized  as  Arminian;  the  churches 
had  been  pretty  thoroughly  uncalvinized,  men  could 
hardly  tell  how  or  when ;  and,  if  the  old  words  were 
still  everywhere  spoken,  much  of  the  old  meaning 
had  gone  out  from  them.  It  was  not  an  altogether 
satisfactory  estate  for  a  Christian  church.  I  hope  it 
is  not  a  scandal  to  say,  that  the  old  fervors  had  died 
out  with  the  old  forms  of  faith ;  and  that,  of  those  who 
came  together  on  the  Lord's  Day,  many  could  hardly 
tell  wherefore  they  were  come,  save  it  might  be  be- 
cause it  was  the  Lord's  Day.  There  was  more  than 
the  usual  amount  of  routine  preaching  and  routine 
hearing.  We  were  not  moving,  as  now,  steadily  and 
strongly  towards  realities.  But  a  better  day  was  at 
hand.  With  Buckminster  and  Channing  the  preach- 
er's vocation  came  into  new  honor,  and  the  word  of 
God,  as  it  went  forth  from  their  lips,  was  gladly, 
eagerly  heard.  Those  were  living  men,  —  men  of 
thought,  imagination,  culture,  men  of  rich  and  reli- 
gious natures,  men  of  faith,  hope,  charity ;  and  the 
roots  that  seemed  to  have  waxed  old  in  the  earth,  and 
the  stocks  that  seemed  to  have  died  in  the  ground,  at 
the  scent  of  that  water  of  life  put  forth  and  blos- 
somed again.  Religion  and  human  life  met  together, 
—  the  religion  that  ever  comes  down  out  of  the  heav- 
ens, and  no  man  knoweth  whence  it  comes  or  how  it 


8 

comes;  the  life  of  the  human  reason,  that  candle  of 
the  Lord ;  of  the  human  conscience,  that  voice  of  the 
Lord;  of  the  human  heart,  that  inspiration  and  ful- 
ness of  the  Lord,  full  and  yet  consumed  with  its 
mighty  hunger.  It  was  no  more  a  decent  observance 
in  the  line  of  old  traditions ;  it  was  no  more  a  Sunday 
lesson,  to  be  characterized  only  as  characterless,  as 
not  Orthodox,  as  not  fanatical ;  it  was  no  more  a 
prayer  to  be  "  made,"  a  homily  to  be  read.  It  was  a 
message  from  heaven ;  it  was  a  man  of  God  speaking 
to  the  children  of  God,  in  the  name  of  the  dear  Son 
of  God.  The  Congregational  body  had  not  yet  been 
divided;  but  the  day  of  separation  was  near,  when 
churches  and  ministers  were  to  go  apart  for  a  time  at 
least,  —  only  for  a  time,  we  trust, — not,  alas  !  without 
strife  and  debate  ;  when  disintegration  and  individual- 
ism were  to  be  the  order  of  the  day,  and  many  should 
ask  very  anxiously  sometimes,  and  none  should  be 
able  to  tell,  whereunto  this  thing  would  grow,  which 
comes  to  us  in  the  name  of  Christianity,  and  yet 
seems  sometimes  to  threaten  the  very  Hfe  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Whilst  there  has  been  not  a  little  to  perplex 
and  disappoint,  not  a  Httle  eccentric  and  extreme 
movement,  not  a  little  crudity  and  absurdity  one  way 
and  another,  we  may  still  say  that  in  these  threescore 
years  the  life  in  which  true  Christians  live  has  been 
coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  a  deeper  and 
a  more  blessed  tide ;  our  Christianity  has  been  grow- 


ing  less  and  less  conventional,  more  and  more  real. 
If  by  some  it  is  more  openly  challenged,  it  is  by 
others  more  heartily  loved  and  recognized  as  the 
world's  dearest  hope.  These  sixty  years  have  done 
something  to  put  it  in  clearer  relations  to  other  divine 
gifts  and  providences,  nothing  to  unsettle  the  rock 
foundations  upon  which  it  rests,  and  will  rest  for  ever. 
If  in  these  last  years  the  world  has  grown  strong,  if 
luxury  has  increased  and  temptations  to  live  unto  the 
senses  have  been  greatly  multiplied,  so  have  the  con- 
gregations of  Christ  grown  stronger  to  resist  and 
overcome  evil.  I  trust  that  in  this  time  this  church 
also  has  been  increased  with  the  increase  of  God, 
and  goes  out  hence  stronger  than  it  came  in.  I  do 
not  speak  of  numbers.  My  predecessor,  in  his  touch- 
ing farewell  discourse,  describes  the  congregation, 
a  few  years  after  the  consecration  of  this  house,  as 
thinned  somewhat  by  discontents,  and  more  by  an 
unusual  number  of  deaths,  and  adds  that  afterwards 
it  slowly  grew  to  be  stronger ;  but  when,  having  been 
without  a  pastor  for  three  years,  it  came  under  my 
care,  I  found  it  again  reduced, —  only  some  ninety 
families  at  the  most.  We  number  now  only  twenty 
or  thirty  more :  but  I  hope  that  the  word  here  is  not 
without  a  power  which  numbers  do  not  indicate  ;  that 
here  there  are  hands,  if  not  many,  yet  manly,  to  bear 
up  and  bear  on  the  Ark  of  God ;  if  not  many,  yet 
faithful  to  nurse  the  Lamp  of  Life,  and  keep  it 
brightly  burning. 


10 


There  are  still  amongst  us  those  whose  childish 
eyes  looked  upon  the  former  house,  and  who  sat  as 
children  in  this  place  of  prayer,  it  may  be  on  the  day 
of  its  dedication ;  but  these  are  few  indeed,  whilst  so 
many  have  gone,  born  children  of  the  church,  or 
gathered  into  our  household  from  without.  Myself 
comparatively  a  new-comer,  I  am  but  poorly  fitted  to 
bring  back  into  these  seats  the  worshippers  whose 
places  know  them  no  more ;  who  kept  their  last  Sun- 
day once,  not  because  the  house  was  to  be  changed, 
but  because  they  were  to  be  changed.  I  do  not  care 
to  name  any  of  them,  —  certainly  not  to  choose  out 
any  who  have  been  specially  dear  to  me,  or  who, 
however  justly,  were  accounted  famous  men.  The 
kingship  and  queenship  of  the  Christian  are  often 
hidden  under  very  humble  disguises  ;  and  many  have 
been  highly  esteemed  of  God,  of  whom  the  world 
might  well  ask,  were  their  names  to  be  spoken.  Who, 
then,  were  they  ?  "  Behold  all  souls  are  mine,"  saith 
God ;  and  as  souls  they  came  into  this  house  of  God, 
alike  and  at  one  in  this,  however  widely  apart  in 
the  accidents  of  our  being  and  our  condition.  As 
souls  they  shall  be  commemorated.  For  nearness  to 
God  in  Christ,  whether  they  always  knew  it  and  felt 
it  or  no,  they  came  here,  and  he  was  near  to  them 
even  when  they  were  not  near  to  him ;  and  it  shall  be 
enough  that  in  his  book  their  names  are  all  written. 
But  whilst  the  thought  that  this  has  been  God's  house 
checks  the^  lips  that  are  framing  themselves  to  name 


11 


the  names  of  his  children,  it  at  the  same  time  reminds 
us  how  rich  have  been  the  experiences  of  these  chil- 
dren during  these  years  of  prayer.  As  the  sun  of  the 
coming  summer  shall  bring  out  the  earth's  treasure, 
so  in  nearness  to  God  life  is  brought  into  light,  and 
made  inexpressibly  venerable  and  beautiful.  Precious 
thoughts  of  God  in  minds  striving  to  be  born  into  a 
clear  consciousness  of  him ;  love  of  hearts  that  know 
that  they  shall  live  for  ever,  —  live  because  God  lives 
and  is  their  Father,  live  because  Christ  lives  and  is 
their  brother;  the  fruitful  sorrow  of  the  truly  penitent; 
visions  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  on  earth ;  new  com- 
mandments, not  from  the  Christ  who  is  gone,  but  from 
the  Christ  in  the  midst  of  us  and  within  us,  to  love 
one  another,  seeing  that  the  God  in  whose  presence 
we  are  is  love, — these  consecrate  the  walls ;  these  make 
them  beautiful,  though  they  may  lack  any  other 
beauty;  these  quicken  the  pulse;  these  deepen  and 
soften  the  tones  of  the  voice,  even  when  we  pass 
within  the  doors  on  a  week-day,  and  will  not  suffer 
us,  without  many  regrets,  to  resign  them  to  week-day 
uses. 

It  may  be  a  compensation  to  be  set  over  against 
the  mischiefs  of  such  frequent  changes,  that  the  last 
hours  in  the  old  house  come  laden  with  the  benedic- 
tions of  numberless  sabbaths.  How  distinctly  we  can 
recall  some  of  those  sabbaths  !  On  that  day  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  in  our  hearts  were  broken  up, 
on  that  day  the  heavens  were  opened  for  us,  on  that  day 


12 

the  mystery  of  our  life  was  revealed  a  little,  and  that 
sweet  brightness  has  never  quite  faded  from  our  sky. 
They  say  that  even  common  sunlight  paints  pictures 
upon  the  walls  of  our  dwellings,  photographs  the  life 
that  we  are  living ;  and  that  the  impressions,  however 
invisible  to  our  poor  senses,  are  all  the  while  there. 
If  it  be  so,  what  are  the  paintings  which  your  artists 
can  spread  upon  wall  or  window  of  the  house  of  wor- 
ship, compared  ^vith  those  which  have  been  painted 
there  already  as  by  the  finger  of  God,  —  real  altar  pic- 
tures, waiting,  as  in  some  old  churches,  until  the  curtain 
shall  be  drawn  aside,  and  they  shall  become  again  a 
part  of  the  marvel  and  the  hope  of  our  life.  As  we 
gather  here  for  the  last  time,  we  are  set  in  the  train 
and  by  the  side  of  those  whom  we  have  accompanied, 
week  by  week,  in  their  walk  to  this  holy  place,  but 
sought  for  one  day  in  vain  in  the  familiar  seat ;  whilst 
the  voice  of  praise  became  the  voice  of  submission,  to 
chant  the  words,  "  Thy  will  be  done,"  and  the  prayer 
in  memory  of  the  dead  and  for  the  help  of  the  living 
was  prayed,  and  the  world  which  now  is  and  the 
world  which  is  to  come  became  as  one  world  for  our 
dear  remembrance  and  our  fond  hopes,  and  here,  as 
there,  there  was  no  night.  If  ever  we  have  vowed  a 
vow  in  this  place,  and  the  payment,  certainly  for  a  dis- 
ciple of  Christ,  hath  been  but  scant  and  grudging,  we 
say,  The  house  shall  not  be  dismantled  before  that 
sacred  debt  has  been  discharged  to  the  uttermost 
farthing.     The  beams  to  be  presently  torn  from  their 


13 


places  plead  with  us  that  they  may  not  be  accounted 
more  steadfast  than  we.  From  the  foundation  to 
headstone,  pulpit,  pews,  the  table  upon  which  the 
feast  of  the  Lord  has  been  spread,  the  carved  wood 
that  has  held  up  the  baptismal  bowl,  the  organ  that 
was  brought  across  the  seas  for  our  use,  and  this  which 
stands  to-day  in  its  stead ;  the  bell  that  hath  summoned 
the  worshippers,  —  all,  all  were  set  apart  from  ordinary 
and  common  uses  for  the  glory  and  the  service  of  God 
in  Christ,  and  that  there  might  be  yet  another  place 
on  earth  of  which  He  could  say,  "  My  name  shall  be 
there."  Let  them  answer  these  high  and  holy  occa- 
sions until  the  very  last :  it  is  easy  to  consecrate 
what  has  already  been  so  consecrated,  easier  to  keep 
than  to  invite  the  Holy  Presence ;  and  our  earnest  re- 
solves can  so  hallow  even  this  house,  which  shall  pres- 
ently be  a  heap  of  ruins,  that  we  shall  eagerly  come 
and  bear  away  some  fragment  from  the  pile,  to  be 
handed  down  as  a  precious  relic,  —  a  bit  of  rubbish  to 
the  rest  of  mankind,  but  for  our  eyes  a  fragment  of 
the  house  where  once  and  again,  as  was  written  of 
Jacob,  the  angels  of  God  met  us.  You  cannot  quite 
desecrate  what  has  been  really  consecrated.  These 
walls  will  give  place  to  other  walls ;  but  there  are 
those  for  whom  this  spot  will  ever  be  covered  only  by 
the  old  house  of  prayer,  the  old  Chauncy-Place 
Church,  and  associated  for  ever  with  some  very  deep 
and  sacred  joy,  or  with  some  sorrow  which  our  faith 
made  a  blessedness.     For  myself,  as  the  time  for  our 


14 

departure  has  drawn  nearer  and  nearer,  I  am  less  and 
less  willing  to  go.  I  was  sorry  when  I  found  that  our 
stay  must  be  shortened  by  only  so  much  as  a  week. 
I  am  thankful  that  it  is  no  part  of  my  duty  to  disturb 
the  headstone  of  the  old  building,  as  it  was  to  aid  in 
placing  the  corner-stone  of  the  new.  I  am  sorry  that 
I  ever  assented  when  they  called  the  church  gloomy. 
I  am  glad  that  the  sun  shines  through  it  to-day.  I 
shall  try  not  to  be  near  when  the  first  axe  falls  upon 
the  old  timbers.  I  cannot  refrain  from  rebuilding  and 
repeopling  the  neighborhood  where  all  my  childhood 
was  spent.  That  Thursday  lecture  bell  still  sounds 
in  my  ears :  I  see  a  few  elect  women  passing  quietly 
into  the  scantily  filled  church,  whilst,  I  am  compelled 
to  add,  the  little  group  of  ministers  still  lingers  upon 
the  sidewalk  and  in  the  porch.  We  boys  in  the  ad- 
joining school  are  cautioned  against  boisterous  play 
whilst  the  service  is  going  forward.  Well,  the  last 
changes  will  presently  be  made  ;  the  old  homesteads 
are  almost  all  gone ;  the  gardens,  which  at  this  season 
began  to  blossom,  and  send  forth,  even  in  the  city,  a 
"  wonderful  smell,"  have  shrunk  into  areas,  or  disap- 
peared beneath  brick  and  stone ;  the  church  which 
gave  its  name  to  the  green,  and  received  it  from  the 
green  again,  is  a  shapeless  ruin,  signalled  by  a 
broken  spire  that  keeps  watch  still  over  the  great  bare 
rafters,  brought,  they  tell  us,  all  the  way  from  Maine 
by  land  during  war  time;  the  boys  have  left  the 
school-house,  and  we  are  here  for  our  last  day.     A 


15 


fair  and  stately  building,  which  shall  fitly  symbolize 
and  shelter  our  faith,  awaits  us.  But  such  work  as  we 
have  had  grace  to  do  has  been  done  here ;  here  we 
have  prayed  God  join  heart  to  heart,  as  hand  has  been 
joined  to  hand ;  here  we  have  brought  the  little  child 
for  baptism ;  here  we  have  paused  on  our  way  to  the 
grave,  that  we  might  cast  the  burden  of  our  bereave- 
ment upon  the  Lord,  the  Presence  hath  been  here,  and 
the  glory  has  not  been  lifted  from  this  house,  and  our 
hearts  are  in  the  old  places.  Yet  we  must  go  forth ; 
bearing  with  us,  thank  God,  in  our  heart  of  hearts,  all 
that  hath  made  the  place  venerable  and  beautiful ;  not 
going  out  desolate  from  a  desolation,  still  journeying 
and  hoping  to  abide  with  Him  who  is  at  once  guardian 
and  dwelling-place  in  all  generations,  and  without 
whom  we  are  homeless  indeed.  These  houses  of 
prayer  are  only  for  a  day  at  the  longest.  It  is  the 
temple  of  God,  which  temple  we  are,  the  house  not 
made  with  hands,  that  it  most  concerns  us  to  be  ever 
a-building,  to  see  that  no  stone  of  it  be  thrown  down, 
and  none  of  its  adornings  disfigured.  All,  save  that 
building  of  God,  is  but  the  scafi'olding  of  time,  and  no 
part  of  our  everlasting  being. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  fifteen  years  ago,  I  conducted 
your  worship  for  the  first  time  as  your  minister,  hav- 
ing been  installed  on  the  previous  Wednesday ;  and  I 
seem  to  have  come  to-day  to  the  close  of  a  ministry. 
I  cannot  refrain  from  drawing  a  line  here  between 
the  thing  which  hath  been  and  the  thing  which  shall 


16 


be.  Until  the  very  last,  I  had  hoped  that  my  honored 
predecessor  and  kind  parishioner  would  have  been 
able  to  obey  the  dear  wish  of  his  heart,  and  have 
raised  his  voice  or  taken  his  place,  or  at  least  have 
appeared  by  some  word  which  I  could  have  read  to 
you,  in  the  old  familiar  place.  But  the  dear  Father, 
who  asks  of  him  in  these  days  of  outward  darkness 
and  feebleness  chiefly  submission,  —  asks  it  and  receives 
it,  —  has  not  so  willed  it.  Our  hearts  are  with  him  as 
he  sits  apart  in  his  dwelling,  as  his  heart  is  with  us  in 
this  house  of  prayer,  the  place  of  his  ministering  during 
so  many  years.  And  as  from  our  hearts  there  goes 
up  an  earnest  petition  that  his  strength  may  be  as  his 
day,  so  he  sends  his  mshes,  which  are  prayers,  that  ""the 
best  blessings  may  attend  you  and  the  congregation, 
as  the  old  tabernacle  takes  its  new  place."  To  his 
"  Lord  be  with  you,"  our  response  shall  be  now  and 
ever,  "  And  with  thy  spirit."  He  has  summed  up  his 
five-and-thirty  years  of  service  in  a  farewell  discourse, 
which  constitutes  the  larger  part  of  the  interior  record 
of  this  house.  A  few  words  upon  my  own  past  may 
properly  enough  fill  up  that  record. 

"  Let  a  man  so  account  of  us,"  writes  Paul,  *'  as 
ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of 
God."  If,  in  the  progress  of  human  knowledge,  and 
the  complications  of  modem  civilization,  each  chief 
profession  and  occupation  is  distributed  into  distinct 
departments  known  as  specialties,  surely  the  minis- 
terial calling  may  be  regarded  as  specialty  enough  for 


IT 

one  poor  brain  and  heart.  Let  a  man  so  account  of 
us,  not  as  a  lecturer  upon  all  branches  of  science  and 
learning,  or  as  society's  man-of- all- work,  but  as  set 
apart  to  live  in  thought,  in  feeling,  in  all  outward 
applications,  the  life  of  Christ,  who  alone  hath  been 
found  perfect  on  earth.  This  one  thing  I  do.  It  is 
large  enough.  There  is  some  ground  to  hope  for  a 
measure  of  success  in  this.  The  people  do  not  want 
from  their  ministers  lectures,  which  could  only  be 
shallow  and  crude,  in  every  department  of  human  in- 
quiry ;  but  they  have  a  right  to  ask  that  the  minister  of 
Christ  shall  be  a  proficient  in  his  own  department,  and 
shall  try  to  learn  what  is  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  how 
his  truth  is  to  be  translated  into  daily  Hfe.  His  use- 
fulness and  acceptableness  in  the  long-run  will  depend 
upon  his  steadfast  devotion  to  his  chosen  work.  The 
river  which  has  no  banks  is  no  river :  it  only  converts 
the  country  on  one  side  and  the  other  into  a  swamp, 
in  which  men  hopelessly  flounder.  Of  course  I  do 
not  mean  that  the  preacher  is  to  deal  in  abstractions. 
Christianity  is  no  abstraction  ;  and  it  gathers  its  illus- 
trations from  every  quarter,  it  brings  its  great  law  and 
spirit  to  guide  all  our  works,  public  and  private :  but 
in  the  hands  of  its  sen^ants  the  axe  is  laid  at  the  roots 
of  the  tree.  The  minister  has  his  word  to  say  about 
public  afi'airs,  —  but  as  a  minister,  not  as  a  partisan ; 
rather  in  setting  forth  the  great  ends  which  he  is 
bound  to  recognize,  than  in  recommending  measures, 
parties,  and  men,  and  handling  matters  about  which 


18 

equally  earnest  Christians  may  diifer.  The  Christian 
preacher  has  a  word  about  science,  especially  in  its 
relations  to  faith  ;  and,  if  he  be  a  man  of  real  faith,  all 
nature  will  be  to  him,  and  through  him  to  those  who 
hear  him,  a  revelation  of  God.  And  the  Christian 
preacher  has  a  word  about  society,  its  ideal,  and 
everlasting  aims ;  but  I  think  that,  if  his  sermons  be- 
come scientific  dissertations  or  political  harangues, 
they  will  be  poor  dissertations  and  harangues,  and  not 
sermons  at  all.  A  young,  unpractised  writer  hopes 
sometimes  to  succeed  in  his  composition,  by  covering 
a  large  surface.  He  finds  at  length  that  a  single 
point  firmly  grasped,  thoroughly  studied,  and  fully 
illustrated,  is  what  he  wants.  The  gospel  is  rich  unto 
all  who  will  explore  it  and  dig  down  into  it,  and  with 
the  heart  as  well  as  with  the  understanding  declare  it. 
The  Spirit  ever  breathes  upon  the  word,  and  brings 
new  truths  to  light.  If  congregations  grow  weary  of 
Christianity,  and  ask,  instead,  for  philosophy,  or  poli- 
tical economy,  or  partisan  oratory,  or  semi-sacred 
concerts,  it  is  because  the  preacher  has  been  a  poor 
steward  of  the  manifold  mysteries  of  God  in  Christ, 
and  has  not  learned  and  taught  what  it  is  to  be  a 
Christian  and  to  do  a  Christian  s  work,  —  what  that  life 
is  of  which  it  is  written,  that  it  is  hidden  with  God 
in  Christ,  —  hidden,  and  yet  to  be  manifested  in  all 
works  and  charities,  the  only  redemption  of  man  and 
of  human  society.  Of  my  poor  eff'orts  to  do  this  work. 
He  that  judgeth  must  be  the  Lord.     Not  of  man's 


19 


judgment  —  or  as  Paul  wrote  more  significantly,  of 
man's  day  —  can  the  minister  be  judged ;  but  this  last 
time  may  have  a  record  of  the  work  of  the  congrega- 
tion in  these  last  years,  and  it  need  not  be  withheld 
because  it  is  a  good  record.  Paul  said,  "  I  know 
nothing  by  myself ;  "  which  is  old  and  obsolete  English 
for  against  myself.  I  shall  say,  "  I  know  nothing  hy 
my  congregation,"  —  against  my  congregation.  I  have 
a  right  to  say  of  you,  that  you  have  done  in  these 
years  some  genuine  Christian  work,  —  work  which 
will  abide ;  work  according  to  the  patterns  which  the 
Divine  Preacher  showed  to  the  world  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  and  illustrated  in  his  own  living  and 
dying.  Your  Christianity  has  been  a  practical  Chris- 
tianity ;  not  a  private  luxury,  but  a  blessing  for  all  who 
chose  to  be  partakers  in  it.  You  have  been  found  of 
those  who  did  not  and  could  not  seek  you.  Within 
these  old  walls  and  in  our  not  very  sightly  schoolrooms 
you  have  well  begun  and  vigorously  carried  forward 
Christian  works,  which,  should  they  fail  in  our  new  cir- 
cumstances, instead  of  abounding  more  and  more,  the 
beautiful  church  which  awaits  us  would  be  only  the 
splendid  tomb  of  our  once  living  Christianity.  For 
one  thing,  at  least,  the  old  Chauncy-street  Church 
will  be  remembered,  as  the  place  where  the  street 
boys  were  taught,  until  the  city  fathers  provided 
schools  for  them.  I  believe  that  you  have  a  right  to 
live,  because  you  have  something  to  live  for,  —  a  Chris- 
tian ideal  to  realize,  a  Christian  work  to  do  in  this 


20 

city,  over  which  the  watchmen  wake  in  vain,  unless 
the  Lord,  through  his  faithful  servants,  doth  keep  it. 
And  since  it  is  the  last  time,  and  may  therefore  have 
some  indulgences,  let  me  bear  witness  to  that  loving 
loyalty,  and  unceasing  helpfulness,  and  exceeding 
tolerance  of  my  exceeding  individualism  and  Christian 
independence,  which  have  left  the  pastor  no  way  of 
explaining  any  want  of  success,  save  his  own  short- 
comings. God  forgive  me  if  I  have  ever  uttered  a 
word  of  complaint,  or  fixed  my  eyes  for  so  much  as 
a  moment  upon  a  speck  in  so  bright  a  sky.  I  know 
that  I  am  grateful  for  the  love  which  I  hope  to  find 
again  in  the  heavens,  which  I  find  now  on  earth ;  and 
that,  whatever  may  be  in  the  future,  a  past  to  be  re- 
called only  in  thankfulness,  a  past  without  averted 
looks,  sharp  criticisms,  closed  hands,  a  past  of  genuine 
and  abounding  Christian  friendliness  in  deed  as  well 
as  in  word,  —  is  for  ever  sure.  You  have  earned  the 
right  to  be  better  served  whenever  it  seems  to  you  that 
better  service  must  be  had.  But  I  must  not  linger, 
unwilling  as  I  am  to  say  the  last  words  of  this  last 
sermon.  Were  I  to  keep  on  all  day,  I  should  be  no 
more  ready  to  stop  than  I  am  now.  So  farewell  to 
the  old  house ;  and  may  He  who  led  his  people  across 
the  seas,  and  has  gone  with  them  from  sanctuary  to 
sanctuary,  go  forth  with  them  from  this  place  also. 
For  a  short  time  we  shall  be  a  little  straitened  out- 
wardly, and  yet  our  new  condition  will  have  its  ad- 
vantages.    It  may  help  to  break  down  all  barriers 


21 

between  Christian  and  Christian,  bringing  us  nearer 
to  each  other,  —  hand  to  hand,  eye  to  eye,  heart  to 
heart,  that,  when  the  doors  of  the  great  church  open  to 
receive  us,  we  may  be  a  Christian  household  indeed, 
having  life,  the  life  of  love,  in  itself,  and  therefore  the 
principle  of  growth.  So  may  the  Lord,  who  is  the 
Lord,  not  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living,  abide  with  us 
evermore,  until  we  come  into  that  world  where  there 
is  no  temple. 


OLD    BRICK.      1713-1808. 


APPENDIX. 


1\/rR.  WILLIAM  HAYDEN,  one  of  the  oldest  members 
^  -^  of  First  Church,  and  for  a  long  time  chairman  of  the 
Standing  Committee,  writes  as  follows  of  the  "  Old  Brick" 
and  of  the  property  on  Summer  Street :  — 

"  I  remember  the  old  church,  then  familiarly  known  as  the 
'  Old  Brick,'  which  occupied  the  present  position  of  Joy's  Building, 
on  Cornhill  Square.  I  attended  church  there,  in  company  with 
my  parents,  from  1800  up  to  1808,  when  it  was  taken  down  ;  and 
its  external  and  internal  structure  are  well  remembered,  even  to 
the  pew  which  we  occupied.  The  noise  and  the  dust  of  the  great 
thoroughfare  —  now  Washington  Street,  then  Cornhill  —  was,  even 
then,  so  great  as  to  render  the  location  unsuitable  as  a  place  of 
worship,  and  the  project  of  removal  to  Summer  Street  was  agitated. 
The  change,  though  determined  upon  by  the  majority,  was  vehe- 
mently opposed  by  some  of  the  worshippers,  and,  among  others, 
by  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Austin,  a  well-known  political  leader  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  editor  of  the  "  Chronicle,"  the  Democratic 
organ  of  those  days.  He  was  the  father  of  Charles  Austin,  who 
was  killed  by  Selfridge,  in  State  Street,  in  1806.  Mr.  Austin's 
opposition  to  the  removal  of  the  church  extended  so  far  as  to  lead 
him  to  terminate  his  connection  with  it,  and  I  think  he  never 
attended  at  Chauncy  Place.  He  wrote  some  verses  bewailing  the 
fate  of  the  old  church,  of  which  the  first  two  lines  are  aU  that  I 
remember,  running  thus  :  — 

*  Farewell,  Old  Brick,  —  Old  Brick,  farewell ; 
You  bought  your  minister,  and  sold  your  bell/ 

The  '  buying  the  minister '  is  in  allusion  to  the  fact,  that  the  First 
Church  paid  the  town  of  Harvard,  where  the  Rev.  jMi*.  Emerson 


24 


was  first  settled,  a  sum  of  money,  to  induce  that  town  to  release 
him  to  them. 

"  The  estate  on  which  the  church,  now  about  to  be  demolished, 
was  erected,  in  the  years  1807  and  1808,  was  owned  by  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  First  Church  a  long  time  before  they  had  any 
thought  of  erecting  a  church  upon  it.  The  estate  was  conveyed 
by  deed  by  Richard  HoUingshead,  and  Ann  Hollingshead,  his 
wife,  both  making  their  marks,  unto  '  Robert  Sanderson  and 
Henry  Alline,  deacons  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Boston.' 
The  deed  is  dated  '  this  seventeenth  day  of  December,  Anno 
Dom'i  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty,  and  in  the  thirty- 
second  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Charles  the  Second  over 
England.'  The  estate,  which  had  a  boundary  of  131  feet  on  the 
street  known  to  us  as  Summer  Street,  is  described,  in  this  ancient 
deed,  as  being  butted  and  bounded  by  the  street  or  highway  (no 
name  given),  '  lying  and  being  at  the  southerly  end  of  the  Town  of 
Boston,^ 

"  The  premises  conveyed  by  this  instrument  now  constitute  four 
valuable  estates  on  Summer  Street,  next  above  Chauncy  Street,  — 
the  valuable  church-lot  which  has  just  been  sold ;  the  School- 
house  lot,  lately  occupied  by  Messrs.  Thayer  and  Cushing ;  and  all 
that  part  of  Chauncy  Street  contiguous  to  the  property.  It  would 
be  an  ample  fortune  to  any  person  who  owned  it  now ;  and  yet 
the  Hollingsheads,  who  conveyed  it  to  the  church,  were  paupers. 
They  describe  themselves,  in  the  deed,  as,  'by  the  Providence  of 
God,  both  preserved  to  a  state  of  old  age,  which  is  attended  with 
many  weaknesses  and  infirmities,  whereby  wee  are  made  incapable 
of  labor,  or  providing  for  our  own  livelihood  or  subsistence.' 
They  were  members  of  the  church  ;  and  the  church  agreed  to  do, 
to  the  end  of  their  lives,  what  it  had  done  for  some  time  before,  — 
to  provide  them  a  support.  I  have  heard,  traditionally,  in  my 
younger  days,  from  older  members  of  the  congregation,  that, 
when  the  church  took  the  property,  it  was  considered  of  so  little 
value,  that  it  was  quite  doubtful  whether  it  was  worth  the  expense 
of  drawing  and  recording  the  deed. 

"  A  century  later,  there  stood  upon  the  premises  a  wooden  house, 
standing  end  to  the  street,  with  a  large  garden  and  orchard, 
occupied  as  the  parsonage.  There  lived,  in  his  day,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Chauncy,  and  afterwards  the  Rev.  William  Emerson.  The 
writer  of  these  lines  has  been  in  the  house  during  the  occupancy 


25 


of  Mr.   Emerson,   and  remembers  it  and  its   amiable  occupant 
well." 

BUILDING   OF   HOUSE   OF   WORSHIP   IN   CHAUNCY  PLACE. 

As  the  Temple  in  Jerusalem  "  got  itself  builded,"  to  use 
the  favorite  phrase  of  the  day,  without  noise  of  workman's 
tools,  so  somehow  the  house  of  worship  in  Chauncy  Place 
rose  without  much  calling  of  meetings  or  passing  of  votes. 
Mr.  Benjamin  seems  to  have  been  told  to  look  after  things ; 
and  he  did.  Church  and  congregation  combined  covered 
only  some  seven  pages  of  the  record  with  their  action,  — 
raising  an  inquiry,  in  one  instance,  about  some  doubtful 
bricks ;  suggesting  a  steeple,  should  the  foundation  of  the 
tower  already  laid  seem  to  admit  of  it ;  adding  a  word  about 
the  ground  to  be  left  in  front  of  the  houses  on  Summer 
Street ;  but  for  the  rest  leaving  every  thing  to  Mr.  Joy  and 
Mr.  Benjamin.  The  church,  in  their  vote,  speak  of  the 
deacons  as  appointed  with  the  committee  of  pew-holders 
for  building  the  new  house ;  but  in  the  record  of  the  pro- 
prietors it  is  not  so  written. 

At  the  church  meeting  only  eight  persons,  including  the 
pastor,  were  present. 

PEW   TAXES. 

The  taxes  upon  the  pews  ranged  from  17  to  34  cents  per 
week,  the  whole  amount  being  $36.63 ;  the  pastor's  salary 
was  twenty-five  dollars  a  week,  and  twenty-eight  cords  of 
wood  (afterwards  commuted  for  $125  per  annum),  with 
the  parsonage  on  the  corner  of  Summer  Street  and  Chauncy 
Place.  Out  of  134  pews,  114  were  owned  and  occupied  at 
the  opening  of  the  new  house.  "  The  Theological  Library  " 
was  placed  in  the  vestry. 

DEATH   OF  REV.   WILLIAM   EMERSON. 

^^  Lord's  Day^  May  12,  1811. — This  day,  at  forty-five  minutes 
past  seven  in  the  evening,  our  respected  and  beloved  friend,  Rev. 

4 


26 


William  Emerson,  died,  aged  42  years.  He  was  installed  pastor 
of  the  First  Church,  Oct.  16,  1799,  having  been  previously  the 
minister  of  Harvard,  Mass." 

At  this  time  the  tomb  of  the  society  in  the  chapel 
burying-grouud  was  repaired,  and  Mr.  Emerson's  remains 
there  repose.  This  tomb  is  near  the  Savings  Bank  and 
the  front  wall. 

ORDINATION   OF   MR.   JOHN  L.   ABBOT. 

"  The  members  composing  the  Ecclesiastical  Council,  with  the 
professors,  tutors,  and  residents  of  Harvard  University,  also  the 
Episcopal  clergy  and  Baptist  ministers  of  the  town,  with  all 
the  clergy  of  the  Boston  Association,  with  a  large  number  of  in- 
vited guests,  and  the  proprietors  of  pews  in  First  Church,  dined  at 
Concert  Hall.  The  whole  was  conducted  with  decency  and  in 
order.  Samuel  Bradford,  Clerk" 

Mr.  Abbot  died  at  Andover,  *  Mass.,  Oct.  17,  1814. 
His  funeral  was  attended  at  First  Church,  Friday,  Oct.  23, 
Mr.  Edward  Everett  preaching  the  sermon,  which  was 
printed.  Mr.  Abbot  officiated  only  upon  very  few  occa- 
sions, but  the  affections  of  the  society  seem  even  so  to 
have  been  much  drawn  out  towards  him. 

CALL    OF   MR.    N.    L.    FROTfflNGHAM. 

"Dec.  25,  18U.  — Voted,  That  Mr.  N.  L.  Frothingham 
be  requested  to  preach  four  sabbaths  from  and  after  the  first  sab- 
bath in  January  next." 

He  was  chosen  by  a  unanimous  vote,  Jan.  26,  1815;  the 
salary  to  be  twenty-five  dollars  per  week,  and  twenty-five 
cords  of  wood,  with  the  parish  house. 

It  was  the  custom  at  this  time  to  collect  the  taxes  quar- 
terly, by  passing  the  boxes  in  the  church. 

ORGANS   AND   CHOIRS. 

An  organ,  voted  in  1809,  arrived  from  London  in  the 
ship  '^  Restitution/'  June  16,  1816;  was  received  into  the 


27 


vestry  on  the  19th,  and  used  for  the  first  time  on  the  30th. 
This  organ  was  replaced  by  a  new  instrument  built  by 
Appleton,  which  was  first  used,  Sunday,  Nov.  26,  184:3. 

At  the  annual  meeting.  May  26,  1823,  Mr.  D.  L.  Gibbens 
called  the  attention  of  the  proprietors  to  the  state  of  the 
choir ;  observing  that  it  seemed  necessary  to  have  a  singing 
school,  in  order  to  bring  forward  such  persons  as  feel  an 
inclination  to  succeed  our  present  very  excellent  choristers, 
who  may  from  time  to  time  be  obliged  to  leave  the  seats, 
and  to  whose  gratuitous  and  generous  services  he  paid  a 
becoming  compliment.  Steps  were  taken  for  training  a 
choir,  and  for  paying  a  female  singer  and  organist. 

ACT   OF   INCORPORATION. 

This  bears  date,  '^  The  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty-nine."  The  proprietors  seem  to 
have  been  moved  to  obtain  this  act  by  the  refusal  of  the 
deacons  (a  refusal  afterwards  withdrawn)  to  sign  the  deed 
of  the  vacant  lot  on  the  south  side  of  the  church,  which  the 
Standing  Committee  had  sold  to  Mr.  Gideon  F.  Thayer  for 
$1.77^  cents  a  foot.  The  records  show  that  there  was  a 
good  deal  of  feeling  in  the  matter.  An  opinion  was  ob- 
tained from  Hon.  Charles  P.  Curtis  as  to  the  corporate 
powers  of  the  society,  which  was  what  was  termed  a  "  Poll 
Parish."  So  far  as  the  present  writer  understands  the 
opinion,  it  would  appear  that  the  property  vested  in  the 
deacons.  Nevertheless  the  proprietors  voted,  July  29, 
1828,  before  their  incorporation,  respectfully  to  request 
the  signatures  of  these  officers ;  but  in  case  they  should 
continue  to  decline,  to  execute  the  deed  themselves,  or  in 
some  way  to  complete  the  sale. 

Would  it  not  have  been  well  if  the  deacons  had  been 
even  more  decided?  or  if  in  some  other  way  the  sale 
might  not  have  been  consummated  ? 

A  new  pulpit  was  placed  in  the  church  during  this  year, 


28 


and  on  Christmas  the  house  was  used  for  services  by  the 
congregation  of  Trinity  Church. 

SUNDAY    SCHOOLS.  ^ 

Mention  of  a  Sunday  school  is  first  made  as  follows :  — 

"  Committee  Meeting^  Aug.  13,  1828.  —  Voted^  That,  if  applica- 
tion be  made  for  the  vestry  to  be  used  for  a  Sunday  school,  the 
disposal  thereof  be  left  with  the  minister  and  deacons." 

From  which  it  appears,  that  a  portion  of  the  scholars,  at 
least,  were  to  come  from  without  the  parish.  In  1833, 
this  school  is  referred  to  in  the  record  as  having  applied 
for  thirty  dollars'  worth  of  books.  From  the  letter  of  Eev. 
Dr.  Frothingham,  we  learn  that  it  was  originally  an  offset 
from  the  Franklin  Sunday  school ;  and  that,  at  the  time 
named,  two-thirds  of  the  scholars  and  one-half  of  the 
teachers  belonged  to  First  Church.  The  object  is  com- 
mended, and  the  money  was  voted ;  although  it  was  the 
opinion  of  the  committee,  that  the  multiplication  of  books 
in  such  a  school  is  absolutely  hurtful.  It  was  not  the  age 
of  semi-religious  novelettes.  An  annual  twenty-five  dollars 
for  the  time  to  come  was  considered  sufficient. 

DEACON   JAMES  MORRILL 

Died  on  the  third  day  of  April,  1833,  aged  82;  having 
been  forty-three  years  in  office. 

"the  christian  psalter." 

A  collection  of  hymns  prepared  by  Rev.  Dr.  William  P. 
Lunt,  of  Quincy,  was  introduced  into  the  services  of  the 
church,  on  the  second  Sunday  of  February,  1842,  in  place 
of  Dr.  Belknap's  "Psalms  and  Hymns." 

CHURCH  funds. 

During  the  year  1842,  an  inquiry  was  instituted  by  the 
proprietors  as  to  the  funds  held  for  the  church,  as  a  body 


29 


of  communicants,  by  the  deacons.  The  reply  shows  that 
there  were  such  funds,  and  that  they  were  held  for  pious 
and  charitable  uses,  and  were  not  regarded  as  in  any  way 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  proprietors ;  and  the 
inquiry  was  .allowed  to  subside.  An  account  of  these 
funds  is  annually  given  by  the  deacons  to  the  communi- 
cant members. 

REMODELLING   OF   HOUSE   OF   WOKSHIP. 

The  house  of  worship  seems  hardly  to  have  been  satis- 
factory from  the  first.  As  early  as  March  12,  1815,  there 
were  plans  proposed  for  altering  the  main  entrance,  and 
the  ornaments  about  the  pulpit;  and  the  sum  of  nine 
hundred  dollars  was  spent  in  this  way  during  the  year. 

The  changes  during  1843  amounted  almost  to  a  recon- 
struction of  the  whole  interior.  It  was  only  stipulated, 
that  the  pillars  supporting  the  galleries  should  not  be 
removed.  The  plan  proposed,  that  all  the  light  for  the 
church  should  come  in  through  a  ceiling  of  glass,  which 
was  itself  the  floor  of  a  vast  glazed  attic.  The  side  win- 
dows were  walled  up ;  but  it  was  found  necessary  to  re- 
open them  beneath  the  galleries,  so  that  the  result  was 
not  as  satisfactory  as  had  been  hoped.  The  entrances  to 
the  building  were  altered  at  this  time,  and  the  pulpit  carried 
back  into  a  recess  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  subse- 
quently furnished  with  spiral  stairs  of  iron,  connecting  the 
church  and  vestry.  These  changes  cost  from  ten  to 
twelve  thousand  dollars.  Could  sufficient  light  have  been 
admitted  through  the  roof,  the  arrangement  would  have 
been  very  agreeable.  As  it  was,  the  house  was  often  dark, 
though  not  more  so  than  many  other  churches.  At  times 
the  ventilation  was  complained  of;  but  it  is  believed 
without    reason,   as    compared   with    other    public   build- 


30 


Oct.  30,  1861.  —  The  use  of  the  front  basement  was 
granted  for  a  Newsboys'  School,  under  the  direction  and  at 
the  expense  of  a  lady  of  the  parish.  A  summer  vacation 
school  has  been  maintained  for  two  summers  in  the  same 
place,  through  the  same  instrumentality. 


Bears  date,  Dec.  19,  1849.  The  correspondence  be- 
tween the  society  and  the  pastor  is  appended  to  Dr. 
Frothingham's  farewell  sermon,  preached  March  10, 1850. 

DEACON   JAMES   H.   FOSTER 

Died  Wednesday,  Dec.  10,  1862,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
89,  having  served  the  church  in  his  office  since  March  5, 
1815. 

LAST   SERVICES 

Were  held.  May  10,  1868,  in  the  morning.  They  were 
conducted  by  the  pastor,  according  to  the  use  of  the  church. 
The  audience  was  large,  and  many  former  worshippers 
took  part.  "  How  lovely  are  thy  dwellings  fair ''  was  sung 
before  the  sermon,  and  the  congregation  united  at  the 
close  in  "From  all  that  dwell  below  the  skies."  In  the 
afternoon  there  were  no  services,  but  many  of  the  congre- 
gation came  to  the  house  to  pass  yet  a  few  moments  within 
the  old  walls.  On  the  Monday  following,  the  work  of  re- 
moving the  church  furniture  was  begun. 


SCRIPTURES   READ  AT  THE  FAREWELL  SERVICES. 


AND  Moses  said  unto  the  Lord,  See  Thou  sayest  unto  me, 
Bring  up  this  people  :  and  Thou  hast  not  let  me  know  whom 
Thou  wilt  send  with  me  .  .  .  And  the  Lord  said,  My  presence 
shall  go  with  thee  and  I  will  give  thee  rest.  And  he  said  unto 
him,  If  thy  presence  go  not  with  me,  carry  us  not  up  hence,  for 
wherein  shall  it  be  known  here  that  I  and  thy  people  have  found 
grace  in  thy  sight  ?  Is  it  not  in  that  Thou  goest  with  us  ?  One 
generation  passeth  away  and  another  generation  cometh ;  but  the 
earth  abideth  for  ever.  The  thing  which  hath  been  it  is  that  which 
shall  be,  and  that  which  is  done  is  that  which  shall  be  done. 
When  one  buildeth  and  another  pulleth  down  what  profit  have 
they  then  but  labor  ?  To  every  thing  there  is  a  season,  and  a  time 
to  every  purpose  under  the  heaven.  A  time  to  break  down  and  a 
time  to  build  up.  A  time  to  cast  away  stones  and  a  time  to 
gather  stones  together.  For  thy  servants  take  pleasure  in  her 
stones  and  favor  the  dust  thereof.  Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  dwell- 
ing-place in  all  generations.  The  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting  upon  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  right- 
eousness unto  children's  children  to  such  as  keep  his  covenant. 
For  the  mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills  be  removed,  but  my 
kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant  of 
my  peace  be  removed,  saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee. 
Behold  I  will  lay  thy  stones  with  fair  colors  and  thy  foundations 
with  sapphires,  and  all  thy  borders  of  pleasant  stones  and  all  thy 
children  shall  be  taught  of  the  Lord,  and  great  shall  be  the  peace 
of  thy  children.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them.  See  ye  not  all  these 
things  ?  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  There  shall  not  be  left  here  one 
stone  upon  another,  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down.  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  This  generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be 


32 


fulfilled.  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall 
not  pass  away.  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God.  The 
temple  of  God  is  holy,  which  temple  ye  are.  Wherefore  seeing 
we  also  are  compassed  about  by  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let 
us  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset 
us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  look- 
ing unto  Jesus  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith.  So  that  we 
may  boldly  say,  The  Lord  is  my  helper.  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  first  and  the  last.  Him  that  overcometh  will  I  make  a  pillar 
in  the  temple  of  my  God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out.  The  grace 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  be  with  you  all.     Amen. 


( 


I 


Caylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

PAT.  JAN.  21,  1908 


#*v;':--:v'-i>5feC.  .      


